When to use it
- Where the local prey, target species, depth, and water clarity support the exact silhouette.
- Use the linked river report as a planning lead, then verify current regulations and local conditions before choosing the fly.
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Reviewed technical illustration← Fly Box
Saltwater · guide 114
Crease Fly
Joe Blados's folded-foam baitfish fly, shaped to float and pop while retaining a narrow side profile.
- Common size
- No universal size; match the target species, legal hook rules, tackle, and local forage
- Colors reviewed
- silver baitfish, blue-white, chartreuse-white, locally matched forage
- Imitates
- injured baitfish, surface minnow
A colored foam body folds around the hook shank to form a hollow crease, then receives a durable resin coating and a trailing fiber-and-flash tail. It is not simply a cylindrical popper or a Gurgler.
Technical illustration
Identification views
Crease Fly reviewed side profile
A schematic profile emphasizing folded hollow foam body and narrow baitfish side profile.
- View
- reviewed side profile
- Color shown
- silver-and-blue folded foam with a white fiber-and-flash tail
- Look for
- folded hollow foam body; narrow baitfish side profile; resin-coated shell; trailing fiber tail
On the water
Understand it. Then fish it.
The river, depth, insects, and fish behavior still decide the final presentation. These are reviewed starting points—not a claim about what is happening today.
How to fish it
- Start with a controlled wake, skate, pop, or pause that matches the exact head and current; increase disturbance only with a reason.
- Change depth, angle, speed, or pause length before assuming color alone is the problem.
Mistakes to avoid
- Treating every similarly colored fly as Crease Fly.
- Using a report label as permission to fish through closures, spawning fish, redds, restricted water, or a prohibited rig.
Variant control
Small changes matter.
Three reviewed technical illustrations show one identified form, its construction, and its fishing orientation. Hook style, size, color, weighting, trailer-hook system, and local legal status remain labeled variables.
Reviewed identified form
A colored foam body folds around the hook shank to form a hollow crease, then receives a durable resin coating and a trailing fiber-and-flash tail. It is not simply a cylindrical popper or a Gurgler.- Colors shown
- silver baitfish, blue-white, chartreuse-white, locally matched forage
- Weighting
- Buoyancy, hitching, hook orientation, and head shape determine surface action.
Review trail
Sources, rights, and limits.
Pattern facts were reviewed on 2026-07-12. Every image has its own rights record; photographed hand-tied flies may still vary slightly in proportion.